Wild is the wind

Today on possibly the windiest Colne Valley site Dave, Chris, Dianne, Ben, Steve, Hap, myself and the two dogs beat the elements planting about 75  Viburnum lantana, Wayfaring tree and 160 willow (editors note: some of these may have been Spindle)

We did well in making use of the bare root trees from Stirley farm  and used a lot of recycled stakes and guards.

Cake was provided by Mrs Haps.

All planters will be sleeping very well after  working out in heavy windy conditions.. Thanks to all.

Duncan.

Every rose has it's thorn (except the Guelder Rose?)

Canes and spirals for the Guelder Rose.

Today were were back at Outlane, for the official last day of the planting season. We were; myself, Philip, Dave, Hap, Adrian, Jenny, Makun, Duncan and Harvey the dog, Cath, Peter W., Steve, Stephen, Jess, Lesley, Robert, and young Ben.

We planted 107 Guelder Rose, 120 Alder and 75 Goat Willow.

Cake was sticky ginger. V.good.

There are, in fact, a few trees left to plant this season. Stirley Farm donated quite a few trees to us last week, and so I will be planting 25 Whitebeam above Dirker in Marsden, Adrian will be planting 30 Hawthorn at Pole Moor, and Duncan will be planting 100 Wayfaring, Spindle and Dogwood at Goat Hill Farm. Duncan's planting will take place next Saturday, and he will need some help!

2,4,6,8 Motorway

Today we were at Scammonden, almost within punk rock spitting distance of the M62. We were joined by the good folk of the Green Building Store, who sponsored today with 220 Sessile Oak, stakes and guards. We also planted 100 Downy Birch, which were a last minute donation from Stirley Community Farm.

CVTS folk were; myself, Geoff, Cath, Lesley and Robert, Jess, Dianne and Lizzie the dog, Duncan and Harvey the dog, Peter W., Peter T., Stephen O., Stephen K., Ben, Hap, Philip, Guy, Mandy, Machan, Dave, Brian, Ros and Steve. Plus as many Green Building Store people.

Cake was another new one, carrot and orange, again very successful.

Weather was mild and dry.

Are you all keeping up with the songs titles for post headlines?

And I nearly forgot to mention the lost baby rabbit we encountered. It was ushered back into the brambles to keep it away from the dogs.

Life in the Outlane

Kit and caboodle.

Here we were today in Outlane, planting 105 Oak, 75 Alder and 75 Goat Willow. We were; myself, Adrian, Hap, Philip, Dave, Geoff, Dianne and Lizzie the dog, Duncan and Harvey the dog, Ben, Peter W., Stephen, Steve, Chris, Brian, Diane and Jenny, Seth Luke and Joanne. Jess stayed the nursery and sorted logs.

Cake was a new one, date and pineapple loaf, and was a resounding success.

Jenny (and noise cancelling headphones?!) and Diane.

Wood, 'n it be luverley.

As Mr Carter has pointed out, we are doing quite well with stocking our drying shed. While we don't aspire to being a fully fledged social enterprise, these logs do help pay the rent.

Big log

Guy, how long is that log? Is it a "Dave"?

More thinning and formative pruning at Netherwood. Dave was snedding trees that Philip felled today that were not done last week in the lower part of the site (M10b). Guy and Mandy were formative pruning and manual felling at the top of the site (M12c). They met with the landowner to explain why we were thinning and formative pruning -  and then took some of the logs back to the nursery, leaving some for the landowner.

Mulch matting in Marsden

Dianne mulch matting, dogs watching.

This week we were up above Marsden, planting a further 90 Alder and 90 Goat Willow in Neil and Sarah's field. There was a special aspect to this as Neil and Sarah are such diligent landowners that they mulch mat all their trees. This takes a quite a lot more work, but helps ensure vigorous growth from the get go.

We were: myself, Hap, Geoff, Lesley, Robert, Ben the younger, Ben the elder, Jess, Dianne and Lizzie the dog, Duncan and Harvey the dog, Neil and Sarah, Peter W., and Stephen O., Andrew and John. Plus special guests, Chloe and Julian, who were there in order to write an article about us for the Huddersfield Examiner.

Cake was apricot and walnut.

We also left 105 Beech and 105 Dogwood for Sarah and Neil to plant, at their leisure!

The Tree Amigos - manage some woodland.

Contrary to scurrilous rumour, Philip, Stephen and Guy were hard at work today. The first photo shows a formative pruned/semi-managed tree in foreground along with 2 Oaks still in guards that now have more light.

The second photo shows a couple of Stephen's log piles and his well stacked brash. All these trees were planted by CVTS about 18 years ago. The small glade created by felling the Alder will allow light to reach to woodland floor and allow biodiversity to do its worst.

The Magnificent Seven

I wonder why they don't let me in front of the camera more often?

Here we were back at Butterly. I say we, but our numbers were significantly down on last week. That said 7 of us did the same work as 23 last week. Old school, rainy day, hard scrabble tree planting.

We were: myself, Geoff, Adrian, Peter W., Dave, Steve and Andrew. We planted 105 Oak, 30 Scots Pine, 30 Bird Cherry, and 30 Birch.

There was another sub-group, the glamorous chainsaw boys were out and about. Stephen K, Philip and Guy may have spent the morning admiring each others chaps and oiling their chains, or doing some well needed thinning and felling. Evidence to follow.

Dampened but unbowed.

There's gonna be a Butterley breakout!

Here we were at Butterley again. Today planting 30 Scots Pine, 105 Sessile Oak, 30 Downy Birch, 15 Bird Cherry, 30 Hazel, and a couple of rogue Alder.

We were: myself, Hap, Philip, John, Adrian, Ros, Tanya, Jess, Dianne and Lizzie the dog, Duncan and Harvey the dog, Ben, Steve, Dave, Lesley, Robert, Makun, and Jenny, plus special guests Marsden Thieving Magpie Morris folk Angie, Penny, Alan, Sarah, and Paddy and his dog.

Cake was ginger, and it didn't rain or snow, well, almost.

We were back at the Sair in plenty of time for our mid-season meeting. 

Beginning Butterley

Apols for slight blurriness, twas raining.

Our first Saturday at Butterley for this year, and we planted 45 Scots Pine and 105 Sessile Oak, in the pouring rain. We were: myself, Philip, Dave, Jess, Dan, Dianne and Lizzie the Dog, Duncan and Harvey the Dog, Hap, Stephen K., Ros, Adrian, Lesley and Robert, Ben, and special guests Diane G., Jenny and Makun (all the way from Japan). Cake was pineapple and cherry sponge. Nice. We all had a pretty good time considering the weather, but we were fairly damp by the end.

Back at the Nursery, Geoff, John and Guy were busy producing saleable logs.

There was a third party planting on the other side of the reservoir: Brian, Chris and Ramsay.

All today's trees stakes and guards were acquired through our affiliation with the White Rose Forest and the Woodland Trust.

Duncan happily hammering.

Delight Farm may have been misnamed.

Andrew and Peter W. struggle on.

We returned to Delight Farm, to finish off planting there. A further 180 trees went in, to very stony, rubbishy ground. Birch and Willow were in the mix though so it should be fine. We were: myself, Andrew, Philip, Geoff, Lesley, Robert, Dave, Cath, Brian, Peter W., Adrian, Hap, Ros, and Stephen. Cake was Bakewell tart, with the jam missing, but still lovely. Weather was wild and mixed, with episodes of driving hail sweeping through. Some nesh sorts insisted on sheltering behind the farmhouse for tea break. Toughen up.

There were some sunny spells, honest.

Wham, bam, thank you mam. (a tribute to Dave. Bowie, not Carter)

Mr Moriarty, enjoying fine Whiskey and fine women.

Today we were at Wham, up behind Cop Hill. We we planted 330 trees, as shelter belt and hedging. We were: myself, Geoff, Dave, Tanya, Steve, Stephen K., John, Julie, Seth, Jake, Ben the elder, Ben the younger, Chris, Brian, Dianne and Lizzie the Dog, Jess, Hap, Philip and Cath.

Cake was chocolate. Weather was mild. Job got done. Photos by Geoff.

It was a Delight... for it not to rain.

Philip's scheme of work, Chris in the background.

This morning we were rejuvenating a small patch of ground above Scammonden Reservoir, near to Delight Farm. It was a glorious sunny cold morning, such a contrast to last week. We were: myself, Tanya, Philip, Stephen, John, Steve, Ben, Cath, Hap, Jess, Dianne, Brian, Chris, Dave, Geoff, Peter, and special Duke of Edinburgh guests, Joanne, Seth and Jake.

We planted 195 trees. And ate home made flapjack.

Geoff frames a photo nicely again.

VIP guests

Spent a pleasant but chilly morning on a walking tour of Butterley and the Wessenden valley with John Tucker, director of woodland creation for the Woodland Trust, and Doug Edmondson, woodland creation advisor for the Woodland Trust. Our planting this year has been made possible by their support, and they were keen to see our past and present efforts. They were particularly impressed by the care we put into the management of mature planting sites.

Why does it always rain on we?

Another classy photo by Geoff with his rather good Samsung NX (sponsorship please?)

Another Saturday morning, and guess what it rained, quite a lot. Today we were above Marsden creating a couple of small shelter belts for fields. We were: myself, Ben the younger, Ben the elder, Jess, Cath, Dianne and Lizzie the dog, Duncan and Harvey the dog, Stephen, Dave, Geoff, Brian, Peter W., Chris, Hap, Adrian, Ros, Steve , Tanya, John and Philip. An astonishing number considering how wet it was. Well done all. We planted 300 odd trees, and ate home made mincemeat slice.

Volunteers modelling new wet look CVTS uniform.

Farewell to Scout Top

This week were were finishing up at Scout Top. We were: Stephen, Alison, Francesco, Hap, Andrew, Iain, Philip, Peter T., Peter W., Duncan and Harvey the dog, Dianne and Lizzie the Dog, Steve, Geoff, myself, Dave and Ros.

We planted the remaining 30 Common Oak, 30 Sessile Oak, 25 Whitebeam, 30 Crab Apple, 30 Common Alder and 45 Downy Birch.

Cake was apple sponge, with apples from our nursery.

It was a bit damp, but not disastrously so.

Log retrieval

Just for the sake of completeness of record, Dave and I went back to Throstle Green Farm to retrieve all the logs cut last weekend. They are now safely drying in our log store.

The Colne Valley Tree Society curry club - inaugural meeting.

Stephen, with his "Dave stick" for getting the right log lengths.
Photo by Geoff.

This morning we were at Throstle Green Farm, for our now traditional pre-Christmas woodland management session. We were: young Ben, Hap, Cath, Jess, Dan, Dianne and Lizzie the dog, Peter, Duncan and Harvey the dog, Stephen K., Philip, Dave, Geoff, Stephen G., myself, Guy and John.

We spent the morning pruning oaks and cutting down Ash, Alder and Poplar. It was unseasonally mild, but the promised torrential rain did not arrive. Home made mince pies at 11am.

At 12.30 we retired to the Sair, where Mandy and her son were waiting with vegetable curry for all.

It was a very nice way to end the CVTS 2015.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Dave hatted, Geoff gurning, Ben bemused, Dianne oblivious, Hap louche.

A bit wet.

Looks quite nice in this shot. It wasn't.

Today we were in Marsden. Weather was poor, to say the very least. But we had an excellent turnout. Duncan and Harvey the dog, myself, Philip, Geoff, Hap, Vashti, Neil and Sarah, Dianne, Peter, Stephen, Andrew, Ben, and young Ben.

This was a pretty masochistic morning even by our standards, but we planted 105 Alder and 105 Goat Willow.

Ann turned up at 11am with homemade jam scones. Sarah provided homemade veggie sausage rolls. Dave provided knock-off Irish Creme liqueur (admittedly quite a good Supermarket own brand).

Geoff's after picture.

Do you suffer from excessive wind?

Geoff's group portrait. Stephen possessed by the spirit of Jack Hargreaves. How!

...we certainly did this morning. While not receiving the promised rain we were victim to this gulf stream related vigorous Westward wind. But we soldiered on.

We went back to Copley Bank to finish planting there. We took 15 Common Oak, 30 Hazel, and 30 Rowan - but supplemented these with some small self grown stock of more Oak and Rowan. We planted all this at intervals along the whole length of the bank, amongst the Hawthorn already planted. Hopefully this will result, one day, in a decent hedge with feature trees.

We were: myself, Hap, Steve, Stephen, Peter W., Geoff, Philip, Tanya, Jess, John and Dave.

Cake was coffee walnut.

Guy was at Throstle Green Farm preparing for our traditional Christmas wood fuel session.

There may have been some Senior Section activity elsewhere this morning, but that remains unconfirmed at present.

Bobby the barman had a mysterious rash, so if we all come down with Chickenpox/Shingles we know who to blame.

A Jolly morning

Myself, cake, Ben.

This morning we were in Jolly's field in Marsden. The forecast was for not so jolly weather, but the worst held off until the end. We were: our host Jolly and his friend Max, myself, Geoff, Ben, Ben the younger, Hap, Stephen, Steve, Tanya, Cath, and Jess. We planted 285 trees in all, we do owe the field some Whitebeam though, so will pop back when they are in stock. Cake was brought to the site by Ann, who was very popular.

There was a second section at work at Copley Bank. Brian, Dianne and Chris took another 75 Hawthorn. And Brian also took his 60 Scots Pine for James Howards farm.

Scout Top II - the return

New trees to left of wall, older trees to the right.

This morning we were back at Scout Top, above the Tunnel End, Marsden. We were: myself, Philip, Geoff, Guy, Mandy, Cath, Amanda, Stephen, Steve, Ben, Jess, Dan, Hap, Peter, Ramsay and Vashti. We planted 150 Scots Pine and 30 Holly. Cake was very sweet, but necessary in the wind, sun and snow.

Add to those 16, Brian, Dianne and Chris who went to Copley bank to plant more there.

So a bumper day.

Scout top, our vertical limit

Philip in his Love Trees hat.

This morning we were at Scout Top, high above the Tunnel End Marsden. We first planted at this site in 2006/7, and growth has been slow and patchy. This Winter we are trying to remedy that. Today we planted 30 Hazel, 30 Hornbeam, 30 Bird Cherry, 45 Common Oak, and 45 Sessile Oak. First we had to get all the stuff up there, and even with help from a nice man with quad bike and trailer, it was still a heart-bursting carry up a near vertical hillside. Nice once were there though. We comprised: myself, Ramsay, Ros, Geoff, Steve, Stephen, Peter W., Philip, Cath, Dave, and Hap. The weather threatened, but in the end we stayed mostly dry.

Geoff took some good pictures with his new camera.

We left 29 deer guards and 32 stakes on site. Jess met us in the pub afterwards, and we discussed her holiday to Cape Verde, and Geoff's career as an indie popster.

 

First day of the Season

Dianne trials new rainwear.

Today was the first day of the planting Season, and despite the damp weather we managed to plant 300 Hawthorn at Copley Bank. We were: myself, Roz, Stephen O., Steve, Peter T., Dianne and Lizzie the dog, Ben G., Ben D., Hap, Guy, Geoff, Philip, Cath and Dave. Cake was the ever popular crunchy topped coconut one.

Copley bank is due to get another 150 Hawthorn, 30 Hazel, 30 Rowan, 15 Common Oak and 25 Whitebeam.

Peter T. looks damp but cheerful.

All the way from Scotland...

More tubes than we would know what to do with.

Today we received our second delivery of the week. Tuesday 4110 trees arrived, Peter and I dealt with that. Today was a the much larger affair of the corresponding stakes and guards. The truck arrived at 12, and myself, Tanya, Philip, John, Stephen and Dave begun unloading the tubes, while the truck driver Scott used his forklift to take the stakes down the road and into the nursery.

After a while Philip had pause to think, wasn't there a bit too much stuff? Our spec. and the delivery note were compared. And yes, there was a bit too much stuff. 3600 too many stakes and guards! So just about twice what there should have been. A lot of checking, counting, and phone calling then went on. And we put 3600 stakes and guards back on the truck to go back to Scotland. Quite a lot of hard work for us, and for Scott the driver who had set off from Edinburgh at 5am.

But it was all right in the end.

Now we are properly ready for the season.

Counting, and calling.

More Nursery antics

We remain on tenterhooks waiting for our delivery of trees for the season, so distracted ourselves by working at the Nursery. Logs were cut and split for selling, and a cherry tree was felled to placate a neighbour who felt in need of more daylight. The tree felling involved me climbing a tree, and also use of our arborist rope to stop the tree being felled from falling into the neighbours garden. We were: myself, Philip and his chainsaw, Jess and Lizzie the dog, Dave, Peter W., Guy, Mandy, and Amanda. Cake was lemon drizzle.

Current tally for stock at B site. 250 deer stakes, 180 deer guards, 50 hare stakes and 100 hare guards.

Which means we still need to take up 150 deer stakes, 220 deer guards, 100 shrubshelters (not yet in stock) and 100 more hare stakes.

Geoff's birthday treat - a day at the Nursery.

Today we stayed at the Nursery and prepared for the forthcoming planting season. We were: myself, Philip, Jess, Geoff, Steve, Ben, Dave and Guy.

We cleared a patch of ground for healing in the root stock when it arrives, cleared the access path so that we could get in and out of that area, tied reclaimed guards into bundles of 50, tied reclaimed stakes into bundles of 9, sawed logs, sold logs to the Sair, picked apples - and ate Bakewell tart.

All very productive.

No pictures today though, I forgot.

And it was Geoff's birthday.

PS. There are now 250 deer stakes, 130 deer guards, 50 hare stakes and 100 hare guards on site at B.  Which means we need to take another 200 deer stakes and 320 deer guards up there. And either use the hare guards for Scots Pine, or swap those out for shrubshelters.

More Scammonden scrounging

Leaves neatly nibbled.

We popped back to the mega-site at Scammonden reservoir to tidy and reclaim materials. We were myself, Jess, Dianne, Ben, John, Geoff and Hap. Cake was ginger. And we returned to the Nursery with about 50 deer stakes and guards.

Saw some evidence of deer browsing, though it tended to be alongside the little deer trails across the hillside, most of the trees are doing well.

Yorkshire Building Society lend their support

The good folks of YBS

Jess's employer, YBS encourages its employees to do charitable works, so she organised her colleagues to do a day's work at our nursery. They cut hedges, cleared paths, and cut and split logs for us to sell to raise money.

Hats off to Jess and the YBS.

Guard straightening in the rain

A pensive Ben and John look on as Tania is amused and Hap enjoys his cake. Do the alders heavy with berries suggest a harsh winter ahead?

These trees planted about four years ago are doing well, especially the Italian alder and some of the birch with a few oak also showing good growth. However they have been battered by the wind in places and as the deer are quite a problem here we need to try and keep the trees straight and as protected as possible, so spent a rainy but not unpleasant morning straightening up guards and banging in stakes. Quite few trees were big enough to remove stake and guard completely so we accumulated a store of useful spare materials where they were not too damaged. Quite a few stakes were reused on other trees with broken stakes and the rest were taken back to the nursery. There is more to do here. We were, Hap, Philip, Tania, Ben, John and myself. Cake was a delicious fruit cake. Philip was particularly proud of a new tool belt and I was excited about using my new camera only to find after taking one group photo it had run out of memory so had to resort back to my phone for 'the belt'.

Geoff

'The belt'

Scammonden scamps

Jess' cropped trousers were discussed.

Today we popped up to Scammonden reservoir to feast our eyes upon our works of the last few years. All looking pretty good. We were there primarily to fix overblown tree guards and trees, but Philip and Duncan were also taking an academic interest in the whole "when is best to take guards off altogether" situation. Conclusion seemed to be that where guards had been taken off, deer were having a bit of a nibble. So best to leave them on? We did retrieve a few from out and out failures though (not many).

We were: myself, Jess and Lizzie the Dog, Duncan and Harvey the dog, Peter W., Philip, and Ben. Cake was blueberry muffins, freshly made with blueberries out of mum's garden.

Before

After

A big push for Wessenden valley

Hap grabs some Chocolate cake

A three line whip got a good turn out: myself, Hap, Tanya, Geoff, John, Philip, Ben, Dave and Steve. We think we finished it all today, both the Butterley bit and the far end up by Blakeley. After Thursday nights session as well I am now officially knackered. But all those thousands of trees are now seeing a good bit of daylight, and should get a couple of months good growth in before the darker months.

And we begin the planning for those darker months now, site visits, and sourcing of trees and materials.

In the photo below, in the distance you can see tree guards that we have exposed in the bracken on the hillside.

Steve, Tanya (hiding), Geoff and Hap.

Yet more bracken bashing

Steve and Cath

Tonight there was more slashing and killing than a whole season of Game of Thrones. We were: myself, Steve, Cath, Philip and Steven. Bracken is getting quite high, as you can see, and is completely shading many of the small tubes of Hawthorn and Hazel. Good night for it though, as there was a brisk wind, and the midges were cowering in their underground hovels.

We found a pack of new hare guards hidden in the undergrowth, so added them to the stash for next season.

Four men and a psychotic Jack Russell

Bracken now as high as the tree guards.

This evening myself, Philip and Geoff went up to Butterley and spent a couple of hours knocking back bracken from around the trees planted last season. Yorkshire Water made a generous contribution to our funds on the basis that we weed this planting for the next 3 years. Weeding will help maximise the success rate, and the young trees do seem to be doing well. It was a lovely evening, though we did need our insect repellant and midge nets. As we were leaving we met Dave who had been working on his wildflower meadow nearby. Dave had his small dog with him though. The dog is somewhat unfriendly, and had to be restrained from attacking us. We also saw a dead stoat.

Marsden Mechanics volunteer recruitment event

This evening Ann, Dianne and I attended the volunteer recruitment event at the Mechanics. We stood proudly beside our roller banner for a couple of hours, and did manage to get two names and make one useful contact with another group. I kept the anniversary film on loop on my tablet for punters to get a look at, but didn't manage to sell any DVDs.